


Cheating Death

by michebellaxo



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-15
Updated: 2014-09-15
Packaged: 2018-02-17 12:46:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2310131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/michebellaxo/pseuds/michebellaxo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Regina takes in the death curse that was put on the well, she fakes being well enough to join in on the welcome back party, but Emma soon notices something is off. When she sees how bad off Regina is, she moves herself and Henry in to care for her. When she hunts for a way to save Henry's other mom, she realizes that the only way to do so just might not be something she can handle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cheating Death

Regina headed to the diner, the lasagna held in one hand and along her forearm. Pausing outside before she opened the door, she took a deep breath to steady herself. “You can do this, don’t let anyone see,” she whispered to herself, shaking her head gently.

Pushing the door open, she apologized for being late. She’d had to cook the lasagna, not that anyone cared, nor did they really want her there. But Emma had asked, and Henry would be there and she missed him, gods did she miss him so much. When Emma told Grumpy—and anyone else in their curiosity—that Regina was there because the blonde had invited her, Regina couldn’t help the small smile that formed on her lips.

She took a seat as soon as she reasonably could, not wanting to seem rude, but needing badly to sit down. Her entire body ached and it had taken all the magic she could muster just to make herself appear healthy. The night passed slowly, mostly with everyone talking to each other and nobody talking to her, except for the few short minutes that Emma and Henry had each spoken with her. Apparently, saving Emma and Snow’s lives was credible enough for a two minute conversation with the son she wanted nothing more from than to hug and take back home, but she didn’t get more than those two minutes.

Standing up, realizing no one was going to care that she was leaving, so she walked out of the diner while throwing her coat on, heading down the walk. That was when Emma came out and invited her to stay for cake. Mentally scoffing, Regina declined. And when she snapped at Emma about her parenting skills, all five seconds of the knowledge she had, she apologized. Regina never apologized, but somehow this irritating blonde woman that had the same eyes as her son managed to get an apology out of her.

“Okay,” Emma answered her, though the look on her face was anything but forgiving. The blonde proceeded to tell her that Archie spoke about her trying to be better and Regina felt anger and pain, pain for the betrayal, building inside of her. She shook her head in disbelief.

“Dr. Hopper spoke to you about me?”

“He just said you’re trying to be better for Henry.”

“I am. That still doesn’t give him the right to betray my confidence!” Regina answered angrily, though still trying to control her temper because the angrier she got, the weaker she felt. “I need to go,” she added abruptly, turning on her heel and staggering slightly before walking home quickly.

When she arrived home, she undressed quickly down to her panties and bra and climbed into bed, the effort of putting on nightclothes seemed too overwhelming. Releasing her magic, she let her body relax as she tried to recover.

Emma was worried about Regina. Three days had passed and she hadn’t heard from the other woman, nor had Henry, and no one around town had seen her. She picked up Henry from school and decided to stop at the mansion quickly before heading home. Telling Henry to wait in the car, Emma knocked, but she didn’t receive an answer. She ran back to the car and took Henry’s key from him and let herself inside the house, calling out for Regina. The last place she checked was the woman’s bedroom.

Pushing open the door, she found dark hair poking out above the duvet on the bed, the woman’s back facing the door and she appeared to be asleep. “Regina,” Emma called softly. She was particularly worried because Regina didn’t seem like the sleep in the middle of the day type. “Regina?”

The brunette stirred, pushing herself up slowly, the duvet dropping and revealing the top of a silk nightgown she had changed into sometime since she’d gotten home from the diner that night. When her eyes adjusted to the light from the windows, and her migraine desisted pounding from the effort she’d used to sit up, Regina looked at the other woman. “Emma? What are you…?” she paused; looking around the room to be certain she was in her own bed. When she was sure she was, she continued, “What are you doing here?”

“No one has seen you since I saw you leave the diner. It’s been three days… Henry hasn’t heard from you and I thought for sure he or I would have… about you getting to see him, I mean.”

“You said that wasn’t a good idea,” Regina spat.

“I said I didn’t think him spending the night was best. I never said you shouldn’t be able to see him more.”

“Has it really been three days?” she asked, when she realized that’s what Emma had said.

“Well, just about, yeah. I know that’s not that long, but for Henry to not hear from you seems like a big deal.”

“I…” Regina started, stopping to cough roughly. The coughing made Emma take in the brunette’s appearance, the pallor of her skin, the deep purple circles beneath her eyes and the ratted look to her hair—the hair she’d never seen look less than impeccable.

“Regina… what’s going on? You don’t look well.”

“Of course I’m not well!” Regina replied in a half yell, unable to muster enough energy to yell the way she wanted. She did let her bitterness seep into her tone as she spoke, though. “I took in a death curse because Henry wanted his mother back. He wanted Snow White back. And what do I get for it? It’s a death curse that no one should be able to survive, and I don’t know if this is me surviving or if this is me on my way to death, but I did it, I saved you and Snow White and what do I get? Everyone in this damn town still hates me! They still pull knives and declare that I’m unwanted when they see me! Even my son wants nothing to do with me and I’m apparently too dangerous to have him spend the night here! Just… just go. Let me… die in peace, or whatever may be happening.”

Emma stood, shocked at the brunette’s words. She didn’t realize that the woman had taken in a death curse to bring them back. She knew what Henry told her, that she’d saved them, but she hadn’t realized at what cost it was done.

“No… I’m not leaving you like this. Someone needs to take care of you,” Emma declared. Maybe it was the savior in her, or maybe it was the fact that she’d met the woman’s mother and knew that probably no one had ever taken proper care of Regina a day in her life.

“No… you’re not,” Regina replied in a half laugh.

“Yes I am.”

“And what about Henry? I’m sure he won’t want to be away from his good mother.”

“He’ll stay here. We’ll both stay here and take care of you.”

“Absolutely not! He is not staying here!”

The door pushed open further to reveal their son, who had been eavesdropping. “Mom?” he asked in a small voice. “You don’t want me here?”

Dark features dropped and Regina used as much energy as she could to get out of bed and move to him, kneeling on the floor in front of him. “Sweetheart, of course I want you here. I just… I’m a little sick and I don’t want you to see me this way,” she answered softly. “I want nothing more than to have you here with me, absolutely nothing. I don’t want you exposed to this, though.”

“Are you going to be okay? Are you contagious? Is that why you don’t want me here?”

“No, no. I’m not contagious, dear.”

“But… are you going to be okay?” Henry asked again, his green eyes wide and his chin quivering slightly.

She’d promised him she wouldn’t lie. She didn’t want to tell him the truth though. Sighing, she pursed her lips before responding, a slight quiver in her voice. “I don’t know, Henry. I’m trying to get better, but that curse I absorbed… no one is meant to survive it.”

“But you didn’t die right away like they would have.”

“No I didn’t, and I think that’s because my magic is really powerful. We’ll see, okay?”

“But if you don’t know if you’ll be okay, then why can’t we stay here and help? If I don’t know what’s going to happen… you have to let me spend time with you mom! You’re… I need you.”

“Oh Henry,” Regina choked, pulling him to her in a hug. Kneeling on the ground, her head came to his chest and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

“Mom… you have to let us help you get better,” he said, his voice breaking.

“Okay,” she relented. “You can stay here and help.” She didn’t want the requirement of seeing him to be Emma, there was too much there she couldn’t deal with, but he wanted to be there with her, and even if it was only because she might not recover, it was something and for that small something, she would accept Emma’s help.

“Well, then… Henry, you can stay here and I’ll go get some of our things from the apartment. Regina… I’ll stop at Granny’s for food. What can I get you?” Emma said.

“Some of her homemade chicken noodle soup would be great,” the brunette answered as politely as she could.

“Anything else?”

“No, thank you.”

After Emma left, Regina climbed back into bed, waving a hand over the sheets to dry them from the sweat she’d been over producing since taking in the curse. She folded her hand into a fist when she realized she’d just used magic in front of Henry.

“Sweetheart… I—I know I said no more magic, I just don’t have enough energy to change the sheets.”

“It’s okay, mom,” he reassured her, moving to help her into bed. He covered her with the duvet and then kicked his shoes off. Henry pulled his schoolbook from his bag; they were reading Sideways Stories from Wayside School. He walked around the other side of the bed and climbed in next to her, accepting her arm when she wrapped it around his shoulders. “You can sleep if you want to. I’ll read to you. And when Emma gets back, I’ll wake you up so you can eat.”

Regina nodded and pressed a kiss to his forehead as he began reading, doing her best to mentally block out the pain and enjoy the feeling of him cuddled into her side like he used to do when he was smaller.

That night it took Emma nearly half an hour to convince Henry to sleep in his own room and that she would listen for Regina and make sure she had everything she needed. After he finally agreed, which came after a hundred promises that Regina would be okay for the night, he said goodnight to both of his mothers and headed to bed after doing his nightly routine. Emma lingered a moment in the doorway to Regina’s room, watching as the woman tried to keep her eyes open and trained on her. Walking over to Regina’s bed, Emma almost sat down on the edge, next to the other woman but decided against it, kneeling on the floor instead. She knew there were things they had to discuss, things involving how her touch on Regina’s arm had opened the hat’s portal. They needed to discuss things about Henry and the other woman’s punishment for trying to curse her, in turn cursing their son.

“Regina…” Emma started, unsure of what to say first.

“I know that there are things we need to talk about, Emma. I know that’s what you wanted to do the other night in the first place,” Regina answered weakly, raising one hand to stall Emma, when the other woman’s mouth opened. “Not right now. This isn’t the right time. Give me a few more days.”

“Are you going to live?”

“I don’t know. I… I need to talk to Gold. Or you can talk to him; he seems to like you well enough. More than he likes me, anyway.”

“What do I ask?”

“I don’t even know where to begin, Emma. I… I really don’t. But perhaps tomorrow would be the time to start.”

 

“And everything else we need to discuss?”

“Can be done later. You’ll tell me what Gold says?” Regina asked hesitantly, uncertain if she could actually trust Emma. Sure, the woman had saved her life a couple of times, but Regina had now saved hers as well.

“Yeah, rest up and call me if you need anything,” Emma answered, leaving the room and taking up in the guest room next to Regina’s.

 

The next morning, after sending Henry off to school and making sure Regina was fine, Emma went to see Gold, barging into his shop roughly and calling for him to come up from the back room when she didn’t see him in the front. As he walked through the attaching door, he smiled a slimy grin and Emma narrowed her eyes.

“I have questions,” she stated.

“I may have answers, though, some things come at a price, as always.”

“You’ll help me because I’ll consider you half liable for Regina’s death if you don’t.”

“Ah… so she is having symptoms.”

“Yeah, now how do I fix her?”

“Are you sure you want to?” Gold asked, giving Emma a slimy look that made her glare at him. He nodded and spoke again, “There is only one way. A kiss of True Love is the only thing that can save her from the death curse.”

“Then why hasn’t it killed her yet?” Emma demanded.

Gold chuckled, saying, “I’m not sure I am the one who can answer that for you, I believe that answer would have to come from Regina herself.”

“And I have one more question.”

“Yes?” he asked, tilting his head and leaning slightly on his cane.

“When we were trying to open the hat’s portal to send the wraith through, Regina couldn’t get her magic to work, but when I grabbed her arm, it worked.”

“You have magic. You’re the Savior, the product of True Love, that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, least of all, Regina.”

“Well, fine, so I just… what? Transferred my magic to her?”

“Oh no, dearie, that’s not really possible in most cases.”

“But?”

“Well, I think perhaps you aren’t ready for the answer yet. Regina probably has an idea, you should discuss that question with her as well.”

 

“If I find out you’re toying with me, I’m coming back and I’m hauling your ass off to jail.”

“You just try and do that, princess,” he answered, smiling a slimy and fake smile again. Emma shot a glare through him and left.

 

When she got back to the mansion, she didn’t really know how to let herself in. Did she knock? No, because that would make Regina come down and have to answer the door for her. She had locked the front door out of habit, so she wasn’t getting in that way. Pulling out her phone, she sent a text to Regina quickly.  
 **Hey, uh, sorry. I locked the door and I’m not sure if there’s a spare key around**

Regina turned over to her nightstand when she heard the small chime. She rolled her eyes as she read the message, waving her hand to unlock the door downstairs.  
 **Should be fine to open. Come up here and tell me how it went with Gold.**

Emma didn’t respond, deciding that it would be a waste of time when she could just be upstairs, filling the other woman in. When she got up there, she knocked on Regina’s door, causing the other woman to roll her eyes once more.

“Come in, Emma,” she sighed softly.

Pushing the door open, Emma moved under the doorway, slowly entering the room and watching as the brunette pushed herself up into a seated position. She moved to sit on the floor, but Regina shook her head.

“You can sit here,” the other woman told her, softly patting the edge of the bed, which was still a good foot away from where she was. Emma nodded and sat. “Did Gold offer anything substantial?”

“Uh… not really,” Emma answered, following it with a quick shake of her head.

“Not really?”

“Yeah, he basically told me to talk to you about it.”

“If we knew the answers, you wouldn’t have gone to him in the first place! That damn little imp… I’m going to kill him if I ever get strong enough.”

“No you won’t. You’re better than that.”

“Am I?” she growled. But part of her… part of her wondered what made Emma say that. The blonde had to know by now that Graham’s death was her fault. She had to know all of her many attempts on Snow’s life by now, from either Snow or Henry.

“You are. I believe you’ve changed— or that you’re trying very hard to, for Henry and for yourself. And… Henry loves you, and he believes in you and that you’ve been trying. That’s enough for me.”

“Why? Why is that enough for you, Savior?” Regina asked, hissing out the last word.

Emma shrugged. If she were completely honest with herself and with Regina, she would admit that there was a part of her rooting for the other woman, and even though she didn’t really know why, she wanted her to succeed. “Because I don’t believe that anyone is inherently evil. I think people become who they are shaped to become, and maybe some make it out alive and maybe some don’t.” Pausing, she searched for the right words as she watched a confused expression cross the dark features of Henry’s other mom. “Look… I—I get what it’s like, coming from a shitty past. I didn’t have anyone to care about me until I was seventeen, and even then it wasn’t real— not the way it should have been. Regina, I just want what’s best for Henry and that’s you— or both of us… I don’t really know.”

“You don’t know? Henry wants you. You saw how quickly he left me the other day because you were back. I’m no longer his only mom and… he doesn’t want me. He’s only worried because I might be gone forever— soon.”

“That’s not true, Regina.”

“How would you know? You don’t know anything!”

“I do,” Emma protested defensively. “He told me so. When… when I brought him home that first night, after we had dinner at Granny’s, and then when we were shopping for the party, he didn’t stop talking about how much you had changed—about how much he believed in you because you saved us.”

“I—“ Regina started, but she faltered. She wasn’t used to anyone defending her, she’d never had anyone who cared enough about her to do so. “I did it for Henry.”

“I never said otherwise. But you need to do it for yourself, too. I don’t know much, but I do know that nothing is going to matter until you want something for yourself as much as you want it for someone else.”

Regina gave a cold stare to Emma and rolled her eyes. “What did Gold tell you to talk to me about anyway?” Regina asked, changing the subject.

Emma scrunched her eyebrows together and looked confused. “About what I went there to ask him,” she answered. She didn’t understand what the other woman meant; they’d already basically gone over what she needed to ask him.

“No… I mean, what exactly did you ask him?”

“Well, first I asked him how to fix you and he said that you have to have True Love’s Kiss, and I asked him why the curse hasn’t killed you yet, he told me that I have to ask you.”

The brunette looked thoughtful for a moment, tilting her head slightly before nodding. “And what else?”

“I asked him why your magic worked for the hat when I grabbed your arm.”

“Oh,” Regina said slowly, dragging the word out, her lips making a slow circle. “Yes… perhaps I am the one who needs to tell you about it.”

“So… tell me,” the blonde prodded, shrugging softly.

“Emma…” Regina started, turning away from the other woman. “It’s not something I ever thought you’d need to know. Or… or want to for that matter. Actually, to be completely honest I wasn’t one hundred percent certain of the reason, myself, but Gold telling you that I would know the answer just solidifies my suspicions.”

 

“And?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. You need to go,” Regina answered. She was not discussing this, not now.

“What the hell? Is it… like, are you upset because my magic is stronger than yours and that’s why your magic worked?”

Scoffing, Regina growled, “As if your magic could ever be stronger than mine. Your magic isn’t even… it doesn’t even touch mine. You are so full of yourself! God forbid the savior actually be helpful instead of just a big head with an even bigger ego!”

“Regina… I was just asking!” Emma tossed out defensively. “Calm down.”

“Calm down? Calm down? Get out of my face!” she yelled, her arm rising to point to the door. “Leave. I don’t want you here. I don’t need your help and I certainly wouldn’t have agreed to it if it weren’t for Henry. Leave.”

“Regina!”

“OUT!” the brunette yelled once more, watching as Emma lowered her head and stood, turning to leave while she shook her head side to side.

 

Later that afternoon, when Emma returned with Henry, she snuck into the kitchen as quietly as she could and sent Henry to check on Regina. When he came back down, she asked how his mother was.

“She’s okay, I guess. She seems… I don’t know, she seems sad,” he answered, sitting on a stool at the island.

“We got into a little bit of an argument earlier and she doesn’t want me here, so I’m just going to stay quiet and have you check on her, but I’ll do the cooking and taking care of you, okay kid?”

“Yeah, that’s okay.” Pausing a moment, Henry sighed. “What did you guys argue about?”

“Just magic,” she answered. “We are trying to figure out how to help her get better and it isn’t going to be easy.”

“Okay.”

 

A couple of days passed, Regina getting weaker and Emma checking on her only at night when she was certain the other woman was asleep. Regina knew, though. She knew Emma was still there, she could tell by the sweet scent of cinnamon and vanilla that filled her senses when the blonde opened the door to look in on her. The first night she had done so, Regina wasn’t quite asleep and she heard the door open and pretended to be asleep because she thought it was Henry checking on her. When the smell had crossed the room, Regina almost sighed. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to tell Emma why her magic was amplified when Emma touched her. And she certainly didn’t believe Emma would ever return the affections that she felt growing in her chest by the day since the wraith, followed by Emma and Snow, had gone through that portal.  
On the third night, when Emma opened the door to check on her, Regina was whimpering softly. Her cries seemed tortured though, as if she was having nightmares. Emma stood in the doorway, the soft light from the end of the hall falling in behind her tracing her shadow onto the light carpet of Regina’s floor. She waited while the whimpers intensified, not wanting to wake the other woman if it was unnecessary, but when the whimpers turned to screams, Emma crossed the room and sat beside the woman on the bed, softly shaking her.

“Regina!” she hissed. “Regina! Regina, wake up! Please!” Continuing to shake her, Emma relaxed in relief when brown eyes snapped open and she tried to sit up, too weak to actually do so. Pale hands grasped clammy shoulders and Emma pulled Regina into a sitting position, helping her lean against the headboard. “Are you okay?”

Too tired and weak to snap at her, Regina just nodded slowly. “I’ll be okay. Shouldn’t be too much longer before the curse completely takes over my body.”

“But then… but you’ll die then! Regina… please, can we just forget about our argument and me being stupid and just… will you tell me what I need to know to help save you?”

“I need True Love’s Kiss.”

“I know, but who do I find, how do I find him?”

“It’s… there isn’t a person you can find. I thought it would be Henry, but he doesn’t believe I love him. Or I don’t believe he loves me, I’m not really sure which.”

“But I know you both love each other! It’s true, why can’t magic tell that?”

“Because magic is based on emotion.”

“Regina… please. Just tell me.”

“Did you know that there is almost nothing that is stronger than True Love? It’s the most powerful magic of all. It can cross realms, and it can break curses and it creates happiness.”

“Why are you telling me this? It isn’t helping.”

“Emma, listen to me, okay?”

Emma tilted her head and nodded. “Okay. Just… bear with me. What are you saying?”

“True Love is the only magic powerful enough to cross realms. That’s it. There is nothing else that can cross realms without a bean or full magic.”

“Okay?”

“There’s nothing more I can say.”

“Okay. I’ll… are you going to be okay for the night? I’ll just go think about whatever you’re saying?” Emma asked, still not quite understanding where Regina was going with her cryptic answer. The brunette nodded and watched as Emma walked out of the room. She then lay down and let her tears fall onto her soft pillow.

 

It wasn’t until the next day, after Emma got Henry off to school, that she came back up to Regina’s room. When she saw that the brunette was awake, Emma asked her if she wanted something to eat, and Regina shook her head.

“I… I realized what you were saying,” Emma confessed, standing awkwardly beside the bed as Regina gently pushed herself up. She didn’t want to help, didn’t know if she could help. The answer she came to for what Regina was saying was something that confused her. Sure, she could see that the woman was attractive, and she could see in her eyes that she was trying to change. The chocolate eyes that she would look into now were scared, but they were full of love for their son whenever he came into the room to spend time with her and check to make sure she was comfortable and okay. But… it was still Regina. She was still the woman who had tried to put her into a permanent sleep. She was the woman who had gone head to head with her and had fought with her over and over about their son.

“Well? What is your interpretation of what I meant?” Regina asked, her tone weak and a little doubting.

Emma sat on the edge of the bed and let her eyes flicker between the brown ones that had lost some of their mischievous glint since she’d taken in the curse. “You think I’m your True Love.”

Regina waited a moment before responding. She watched Emma’s features, the way her eyes widened slightly and her lips parted just a little. Nodding slowly, she spoke, “I do.”

“Why?”

“Because our magic is powerful enough to open a portal when I couldn’t use my own magic and I’m one of the most powerful sorcerers to ever live. Because you’re the only person who has ever challenged me and offered me what I needed. You’re the only person who didn’t cower beneath me and who was a decent person to go up against. You are the only person who loves Henry as much as I do, and you may not have known it, but you gave him to me. You gave me the best thing I have ever known, ever loved. You’re good, you’re strong and you’re everything that I desired to be when I was young.”

Emma gasped softly. “I—I don’t understand though. You… you love me?”

“I believe I do. I never wanted to, but somewhere along the way I couldn’t help myself. It was… it was like slamming headfirst into a brick wall and then falling down a well, completely incapable of grasping at the sides. I… don’t take this wrong, but I would have preferred almost anyone to you because I know you can’t love me back, so I’ll die. You’re too good for me, I’ve done too many terrible things and I suppose it’s about time I’ve paid in full for them.”

“Regina, I… Henry… you can’t die. Henry needs you. And I can’t raise him by myself. You’re the one who took care of him when he was sick, when he was growing up, you know what to do, and you know how to help him. I don’t.”

“Then… well, then you need to take some more time off work so I can teach you. We’ll talk about everything.”

“Why are you being so nice?”

“Because I’m tired of fighting everyone all the time. It’s time for me to let things go and just accept that this is my price to pay.”

“So, then, where do we start?” Emma asked.

“Get me some tea, and then we’ll talk.”

Once Emma was gone, Regina reached down onto the bottom shelf of her nightstand, finding her photo albums of Henry’s childhood and pulling them up into her lap. When the blonde returned with her cup of tea, Regina shifted slightly to make room for Emma to sit next to her. Once they were comfortable, she opened one of the photo albums, the first one, and started telling Emma stories that related to all of the photos.

One picture, when Henry was nearly three months old, was a few days after he got over the stomach flu. “He was so small, and he was formula fed, obviously, so he’s laying there in my arms, his stomach pressed against my forearm and I was holding a burp cloth below his mouth as he was throwing up. It was awful, I felt so bad for him. But he would vomit and then two minutes later he would look up at me with his big eyes and smile.”

Emma watched as Regina told the story, smiling softly at the animated expressions she made when she talked about Henry. She listened as Regina spoke for hours about Henry’s infant and toddler years, laughing at some of the stories told of Henry’s antics. It was nearly time to pick him up from school, so they put the story telling on hold momentarily and Regina took a nap while the blonde left.

 

The next day, Emma returned to Regina’s room, a cup of tea and a bowl of Granny’s homemade chicken noodle soup on a tray. This time, she held the photo album and flipped the pages while Regina ate and told stories.

“When he was three, he had this cute little habit that when he wanted my attention, he would say ‘mama, mama,’” Regina started, using a smaller and childlike voice to demonstrate how Henry would say it. “I would look at him and say, ‘Henry’ and he would giggle and say ‘mama’ just like that, like he was so relieved that I answered him. He did that for about a year. It was… it was very sweet.”

“You’re a good mother,” Emma whispered. Seeing this side of Regina was special, it was something she never expected.

“I tried, very hard. When he found out he was adopted he started feeling sad, he started believing I didn’t really love him because he wasn’t biologically mine. He could not have been more wrong. I loved him too much, actually. When he asked questions about you and I told him I had no knowledge of who you were, he didn’t believe me. So he searched. In all reality, he should never have been able to find you, but I think that perhaps Gold set it up someway so that Henry could find you. Gold knew who you were, he knew whose son Henry was.”

“How do you know?”

“When the curse broke, I got my memories back, too. When Henry first came home with me, I…I hadn’t actually spent anytime with babies, children yes, but not small children or babies. I could not get him to stop crying, so I took him to Dr. Whale and asked him to check him over. He told me that Henry was healthy, but I was scared and worried that it was me, so I insisted. In the end, he told me that in order to find out if there was something genetically wrong with him, I would have to find out if there was anything wrong with the birth parents.”

“You looked for me?”

“In a manner of speaking. I had Sidney search for you. When I saw on that piece of paper that Henry’s birthmother was found on the side of the road just outside of Storybrooke, I knew.”

“And you kept him,” Emma stated, slightly amazed.

“At first I didn’t want to. I drove him back to Boston and almost gave him back. But… I looked at him and he was mine. I didn’t want any other child and I didn’t want to go back to not having him. I created a potion of forgetting so I could forget who you were.”

“You knew that it would be possible. That Henry might be the downfall of your curse and you kept him?”

Shrugging, Regina nodded slowly. “I loved him more than my curse. He’s my happiness, and he’s more than I ever deserved. It only seems fair that my death ends it all.”

“That doesn’t sound fair at all, actually,” Emma argued, but Regina sighed softly and said she was tired, watching as Emma nodded and left her alone.

 

The next day, Regina resumed telling Emma stories, intending for them to only be about Henry as a child. She cared for the blonde far too much and she didn’t want that to come across. Emma already got her feelings out of her once; she didn’t need to share them again.

“When Henry was seven he loved to climb trees. Specifically my apple tree. That branch you cut off? That was his favorite,” Regina told her, smirking.

“Way to make me feel bad.”

“I don’t blame you. I probably would have done something similar if our situations were reversed. But to be fair, I never would have threatened you if I wasn’t worried about you wanting to take Henry away from me.”

“I didn’t want to. Not at first.”

“Yes… well, anyway, he climbed that tree all the time. He would come to the office after school and climb it while I worked and I watched him from my office window. I knew I didn’t really have to worry about him, I’d made the town and everyone in it was primarily good or obedient.” Regina stopped to chuckle lightly. “That or everyone was too terrified of me to cross me. But Henry was loved by everyone in town, almost as though it was instinct to love this beautiful little boy. And he would pick apples everyday and bring them up to me, asking me if it was a good one, and of course, they all were because it’s my tree and it was preserved by magic.”

“He sounds like he was incredible.”

“He was. He is. Even during the period of time when he hated me, all I wanted was a hug, or to be able to brush his hair back without him pushing me away, because I love him so much.”

“Yeah, I bet that didn’t really feel great.”

“No, it didn’t. But I understand his hesitation and I hate that I was so awful to him.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to hear a funny story about your mother?”

Emma grinned and nodded. “Yeah.”

“You might not find it as funny as I do, but before Snow gave Henry the book, she was his favorite teacher anyway. He would prattle on and on about her, all the time and it drove me nuts, because… well, for obvious reasons. Anyway, I told him he should bring her an apple one day. The most basic parts of people’s personalities were brought here, which I assumed would include her hatred for apples, due to the sleeping curse. So I sent him to school one morning with an apple for her and I watched from afar as she accepted it from him. She paled, and her reaction was so extreme, like she knew, instead of just having a small and basic dislike for them. I think he asked her if she was alright or something like that, because she nodded and took a bite, but when he smiled and turned away she immediately spit it into the garbage can and threw the apple away.”

Emma chuckled easily with Regina. “I shouldn’t find that funny because you were using our son to torture my mother, but I can imagine it. Even just once when I ordered apple pie at Granny’s and offered her a bite, she swallowed all seriously and shook her head, telling me she doesn’t eat apples.”

“I wish I could have seen that.”

“Will you tell me about it?”

“About what?”

“About whatever it was that made you hate her, because I really don’t believe it’s because you think she’s prettier than you.”

Laughing darkly, Regina shook her head. “No, that is most certainly not the reason why. Not that she isn’t a beautiful woman, but I never doubted my own beauty and I certainly am not that petty.”

“So will you tell me?”

“I… I suppose.” Regina took a moment, breathing deeply before starting the saddest story of her life. “Snow was young, I don’t necessarily blame her anymore. I still don’t like her, she’s self righteous, but moving on… I saved her from probable death on a runaway horse. I instantly adored her; she was sweet and young and adored me equally. I was different then, I wasn’t… damaged or broken. Anyway, she didn’t have a mother, hers had died, and her father proposed to me, he was a king, and my mother accepted for me. Perhaps I wouldn’t have minded being her mother, marrying her father, if I wasn’t in love with Daniel.” Sighing softly, Regina smiled just slightly at the image of her first and only love that came to her mind. “Daniel was our stable boy and he was beautiful. And he loved me and I loved him so very much. After my mother accepted the king’s proposal, I ran to the stables and asked Daniel to marry me, and then we intended to run away the next day.

“Snow saw us kissing that night and I made her promise not to tell anyone, least of all my mother. She was twelve at the time. And somehow my mother got her to tell the secret and she stopped us from running away, she… she made it seem like she would let us be happy together. But then she ripped out his heart. She crushed it and he died in my arms.”

Emma gasped softly. “I… Regina, I’m sorry.”

“It isn’t your place to be. I just… her excuse was that she was a child, just a child who told a secret. But… look at Henry. He’s not quite twelve, but can you imagine him telling someone’s secret if they specifically asked him not to? If it had been Henry in that situation, unless someone was actually going to get hurt from the secret, he would never tell.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I mean, I’m not saying that you trying to kill her over and over is justified, I’m just saying I understand your viewpoint.

“Something else about Henry, then?”

“Sounds good.”

 

Several days passed of conversations about Henry and Emma was growing fonder of the woman who seemed to be getting sicker by the moment. She could see, through the stories she told about their son and through the methods she had for caring for each of his illnesses, that there was no one who would have been a better mother for him, and that was exactly what she had wanted for him when she gave him up.

She also watched as Henry and Regina grew closer to each other as the time passed. It broke her heart, because she knew it would be ending soon. On Friday afternoon, after Henry arrived home from school, Emma said she had to go for a drive, run a few errands. She drove over to her parent’s apartment, her apartment too, she supposed. Though… the mansion felt like home now.

She stood by her car, staring at the building until she built enough courage up to go inside. When she entered the loft, David and Mary Margaret were in the kitchen together, getting food. Both looked up at her immediately and smiled awkwardly.

“How is it going over there, Emma?” Mary Margaret asked.

“It’s… you know, not great. We can’t… there’s nothing I can do to help her survive. She’s going to die and it is going to be entirely my fault. And you know… she’s being amazing! She hasn’t told Henry it’s my fault, and she doesn’t want him to know. She’s been telling me stories all week about how… how he was as a child and how to take care of him and just… y’know, like little things that I would never have thought of! I can’t do this! I can’t be his mother! She’s his mother. I’m like, the cool aunt or something.” Emma was pacing back and forth by the time she finished talking, and David grasped the sides of her shoulders, holding her in place and looking into her eyes.

“Why don’t we sit down and you can actually tell us about it?” he said.

“Yeah… I guess I should.”

“Now… tell us what you meant when you said that Regina hasn’t told Henry that it’s your fault that she’s going to die?” Mary Margaret asked after the three of them sat down. Emma explained that Regina believed her to be her True Love, but that it would take a two sided kiss, both of them would have to feel that love, would have to believe in it, for it to work.

“Well, I hate to tell you how you feel, but I think you should try the kiss,” Mary Margaret stated slowly. “I mean, I don’t necessarily want you with my worst enemy, but I know that when True Love finds you… there’s nothing you’ll want more—ever.”

“I don’t love her, though!” Emma argued.

This time it was David who answered, a small grin appearing on his face. “Yes, you do. You may not realize it yet, but it is obvious.”

“She drives me nuts! I’ve spent all of my time since I’ve known her fighting her. She… Mayor Mills was crazy and Regina is hardly any better.”

“But she is,” Mary Margaret argued. “Regina… she’s not, she still isn’t the woman I met as a child, but she isn’t the same person you met when you first came her, and she’s not really the Evil Queen anymore either, is she?”

“I… she drives me insane!” Emma tried again.

“Your mother stole a ring from me and that was how we met. Then she nicknamed me ‘Charming’ and that was something I hated at first. She drove me insane, too” he told her, stopping to pause a moment. “But… sometimes our hearts know us better than our heads and love comes from the strangest of places.”

“It’s almost strangely poetic,” Mary Margaret interjected. “I took her first love away from her, in a manner of speaking. It seems fair that my child would be the reparation for that. And you’re both Henry’s mom and I don’t think he’d want to live without either of you.”

“So is that how you save her? You kiss her and break the curse?” David asked curiously.

“Yeah.”

“So try! Go! Be sweet and kind and then let it happen naturally,” Mary Margaret told her.

“Tell Henry we want to see him and bring him over. That way you two can be alone,” David offered.

“You two are really okay with this?” Emma asked, her head tilting and her eyes widening. She would never have expected them to be okay with her and Regina, not that she’d been giving it a thought.

“Emma, all we’ve ever wanted was for you to be happy, no matter who may help you with that happiness,” Mary Margaret answered, and David nodded his agreement, watching as Emma smiled and stood up quickly, leaving to go back to Mifflin Street. Back to Regina.

 

While she was gone, Regina had taken a turn for the worse. The moment she opened the door, she heard Henry calling for her, her name coming out of his voice in a scared and sobbing sound. She took the stairs two at a time as she felt her heart tightening with panic. She ushered Henry out of the room and sat on the bed next to Regina.

“Hey, hey what happened? You were doing so well when I left,” Emma said, taking the small form into her arms. “Regina… you can’t die.”

“It’s my price… there’s nothing else… just the—just the kiss,” Regina answered, her voice tight and low.

“I need you, Regina,” she whispered softly.

“You’ll be fine. The two of you will navigate things together. I… I want you to keep the mansion. Move in here and stay here with Henry. It is his home and it’s only fair he gets to stay.”

“I can’t. I can’t live here without you. Regina this isn’t fair!”

“Emma… you’ll be fine,” she answered, her breaths slowing. “I promise. You’ll be okay. And just know… you are loved,” Regina didn’t say anything else. Her eyes closed slowly, but she was still breathing. Emma pulled her body close and cried—sobbed, actually. Her body shook as she realized it was true… her parents were right, she did love Regina, and hearing Regina tell her that she was loved… that was something that she couldn’t let go of.

“Regina… you can’t die, please. I-I love you,” she whispered through her tears, leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to the other woman’s lips. It took a moment, but a blast of energy shot around them, and another moment later, Regina’s eyes flew open and she gasped softly.

“It… it isn’t possible. You can’t… you—you love me?” Regina asked, doubt filling her eyes.

“I do. I love you. I don’t know when it happened, but it did.”

“But… it shouldn’t have. I-I didn’t know you loved me. That would mean…” Regina trailed off, considering the thought that maybe Henry didn’t really love her because his kiss didn’t make her better.

“Don’t even think that. I don’t even want you to entertain that thought. I’ll ask Gold. Henry does love you. He loves you so much.” Regina gave one quick nod of her head, still unsure that she believed Emma. “Hey… let’s just think about what we discovered about us just now.”

Offering a real smile, Regina looked up at Emma, wrapped her arms around her and pulled the other woman down to her, kissing her softly. What should have been their first kiss. “You really love me?” she asked quietly after she pulled away.

“I do. I… this week with you, talking to you and seeing how much you love Henry must have had something to do with it, because I started seeing you differently. And, well, and now I can’t imagine going back to not knowing you, back to not having you.”

“Emma,” Regina breathed with relief. A wide and beautiful smile formed across her mouth and the blonde returned it easily. “I never thought… I really never believed anyone could love me again.”

“But I do. And even though we have a long way to go before I can forgive everything you’ve done since I showed up, we’ll work on it.”  
Regina nodded and tentatively leaned up to kiss Emma again. And it felt so good to kiss someone who felt something for her, too. It had been since Daniel that she’d felt something this… that felt like so much.

Breaking away from the kiss, Emma smiled. “I’ll be right back.” She left the room and found Henry, who was sobbing on his bed. “Hey kid,” she said, hugging him before grabbing his shoulders. “Come with me.” She brought him to Regina’s bedroom, where the dark haired woman was sitting on the edge of the bed, her feet flat on the floor and her skin just magically looking less pale than it had minutes previous. She looked incredible, like… like before the curse had ever entered her body.

“Mom?” Henry said when he entered the room and saw her sitting up without the support of the headboard. “Mom!” Running to the bed, he crashed against her, causing her to fall back on the bed with him in her arms.

“Henry, I’m okay. Everything is okay,” Regina said reassuringly, pushing them up without letting go of her son.

“How are you so much better?’

“True Love’s Kiss saved me.”

“But… but Emma is… you guys have True Love?”

Smiling, Regina nodded. “Yes. Is that… is that okay?” she asked hesitantly. She would definitely not want to do anything to upset him, not now that she was going to live and not now that he saw that she was changing.

“Yeah! I… I just want you to be happy. And if Emma can make you happy, and if it makes her happy too, then yeah, it’s great!”

“Henry, you know that I can’t be happy without you, either. You’re my little prince. Forever.”

“I know, mom.”

Emma snuck out of the room and let them be alone. She wanted to know why Henry’s kiss wouldn’t work. She made her way to Gold’s shop in search of answers, and when she got there, the man smirked like he was expecting her, like he knew she would come any time.

“Emma, good afternoon.”

“Hello, Gold,” Emma growled. “I need answers.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

“Why didn’t Henry’s kiss work? Mine worked for him, so obviously parental love can be included.”

“It most certainly can, but both parties must trust the other’s love. One of them doesn’t believe it.”

“But… then why did my kiss work when Regina didn’t know that I love her?”

“Ah, so you’ve figured it out and cured the Queen?” he asked, though he didn’t sound pleased, more resigned.

“Yes, now answer me.”

“I believe in this world it is referred to as ‘love at first sight.’ The heart knows immediately when it has met the one it will fall in love with. Even human hearts that are from a world without magic are somewhat magical, dearie.”

“You’re saying my… heart, that it has known all along that I was going to love Regina?”

“Sure. Why is that so unbelievable?” he asked, pausing a moment before he continued. “Tell me, did you feel any connection with Regina when the two of you first met?”

“No.”

“No? Nothing? Not even an attraction?”

“I… well, yes. I guess I thought she was attractive.”

“And you didn’t find that strange? This woman who just so happened to be the mother of your son, a mother that he was telling you was evil and didn’t love him, why would you feel attracted to her? And did you not defend her to the boy? And save her life? And—“

“Okay, I get it. Thanks.”

“My point is that romantic True Love is different than parental or familial True Love.”

“But why?”

“Consider it as though she is your Soul Mate.”

“Oh,” Emma breathed, finally understanding what he meant. She hadn’t ever really believed in Soul Mates or love at first sight, and certainly not True Love. But now she had proof, she had magical proof from kissing and saving Regina.

 

When she got back to the mansion, she found mother and son asleep in Regina’s bed and she walked up to the side of the bed. She looked down at the two and suddenly realized the startling similarities between the two of them. He may not be Regina’s biologically but he was Regina’s son through and through. Smiling softly at them, Emma sat down beside Regina and shook her gently. It took a moment before the brunette stirred, but when her eyes opened, she quickly trained them on Emma.

“Hey,” Emma whispered. “Do you want to sleep some more or do you want to go talk downstairs?”

“Did you talk to Gold,” Regina asked softly. When Emma nodded, Regina shifted herself, pulling her arm out from under their sleeping son and sat up, pushing off the bed with less effort than she’d needed since before she took in the curse.

The women made their way downstairs to the kitchen and Emma watched as Regina started a pot of coffee and pulled out the ingredients for pasta.

“Is spaghetti fine for dinner? I’ve quite missed pasta.”

“Yeah, spaghetti is great.”

Regina started the dinner before she turned to look at Emma. “So, what did Gold say?”

“He told me that romantic True Loves work differently because our hearts knew the moment we met, like soul mates or love at first sight. Our hearts knew we would fall in love with each other.”

“Yes, I quite suspected that, though… I didn’t realize that would mean that it would work if I didn’t know my feelings were requited.”

“So… where do we go from here?” Emma asked softly, watching Regina as she put the noodles into boiling water.

“I believe you said we have things to work out, and I know that’s true. But… I suppose for now, between figuring things out and dealing with… whatever is supposed to come as my punishment, we deal with what we are.”

“True Loves.”

“True Loves,” Regina answered, looking down into the pan of meat she was browning. “And… you saved me already, if you don’t want to stay, I won’t hold it against you. I would never hold your choice or your free will against you.”

“No, I-I’m interested in figuring this out. Seeing where this goes.”

“I know I have a lot of crimes to pay for.”

“No, just… just what you’ve done since you’ve been in this world, or… I guess since I came to town, since no one would remember anything from before that anyway.”

“So… starting with…”

“With Graham.”

“I wasn’t sure if you knew,” Regina whispered, momentarily looking away.

“I do. I… I put it together somewhere along the way, with Henry’s help, though I’m not sure he knew that’s what he was doing.”

“I’m sorry. I do regret it.”

“Why did you do it?” Emma asked, her voice low and pained.

“I loved him. Not… I wasn’t in love with him, but I did love him. He was one of the only people I’ve truly cared for since my days as the Evil Queen started. He was going to leave me for you, and while that’s petty, I couldn’t let him. I was already losing Henry to you, and I didn’t want to lose another person. And… and while I didn’t know for sure that he was remembering and that that was the actual reason why he stopped wanting me, I had suspicions that as the Savior, you were making him remember.”

“So you crushed his heart.”

“Did you love him, Emma?”

“No. I mean… I could have, with time. But I didn’t know him long enough to love him, though I cared for him. And he was the first person I allowed myself to open up to after… well after Henry’s father, really.”

“You… you haven’t loved anyone since Henry’s father?” Regina asked, her voice surprised and regretful.

“Uh, no. He left me to take the fall for his crimes and he sent me to jail. I had to give up Henry because of that. Well, mostly because of that. I couldn’t have given Henry the life you gave him… I couldn’t have given him any kind of life that he deserved, but a lot of that was Neal’s fault. I never thought I would love anyone again.”

“I’m sorry, Emma.”

“For what?”

“For taking the possibility of Graham away from you.”

Emma nodded and watched silently as Regina continued dinner. She knew… she knew that with time they would work things out and they would find a way to be happy. And though Emma had never been an optimistic person, she also couldn’t imagine not being with Regina, not after she’d realized that she loved her, and that she had fallen in love with her so quickly.

“Regina?”

“Yes, Emma?”

“Are you sorry about the curse?”

Pursing her lips and taking a moment’s pause, Regina shook her head. “No. I’m sorry that you grew up the way you did, I truly am. But if I hadn’t cast the curse and if you hadn’t met Henry’s father… Henry wouldn’t exist and I will never be sorry for his existence.”

The other woman nodded, thinking on that a moment, and she found that she agreed. She would never regret Henry’s existence. Emma may not have raised him, but she loved him, she knew Regina loved him, and her parents did. None of them would be able to be truly bitter over the curse because it was what brought Henry to being the incredible life that he is. And then her thoughts once more turned to what this revelation of them would do to Henry. He said he was fine with it if they were happy, but she couldn’t help wondering what would happen if she screwed things up.

Regina looked over and saw that Emma was deep in thought, and she smiled softly. “What are you thinking about?”

“You. Me… us, I guess,” Emma answered, pulling the spatula out of the brunette’s hand. Turning the burner down, she turned Regina toward her and moved close to her, rubbing their noses together softly before pressing her forehead to the other woman’s. “Regina…” she breathed softly.

“Yes, Emma?” the brunette asked, her voice just as soft and low as the blonde’s had been.

“Kiss me?” she asked, wanting Regina to give her affection, not wanting to take it for herself. The brunette did so, moving their foreheads apart so she could press her full lips to Emma’s slightly smaller ones. Moving her lips slowly and sweetly, she ran her tongue along the seam of Emma’s lips, and when the other woman’s mouth opened for her, she slid her tongue along Emma’s, kissing softly and letting their tongues move together in the warmth of their mouths. One hand moved to the small of Emma’s back, pulling her closer and tighter to her, while the other tangled in long, blonde hair.

And she knew in that moment that everything would work out. That she had someone as strong as she was, though Emma was actually probably stronger, to be by her side and face the challenges that would come.


End file.
